Or part of the elite paladin.
So, of course, being a big day for me, I of course did the responsible and mature thing to do in this situation.
I banged at the wall back with double the strength he used, making the thuds sound through the entire house.
"I'M SO EXCITED!
Today is a big day for me.
I was miraculously selected to assist the paladin trial, and you can bet I'll make the cut.
I have trained harder than anyone else, busting my ass off, AND FINALLY IT'S MY TIME TO SHINE!!!!
From a distance, I heard pounding from the wall, like someone hitting it with their fist.
" KEEP IT QUIET OVER THERE, BELLA!!"
It was my brother Kaleb.
He was clearly pissed after all I'm screaming at eight in the morning, but can you blame me?
Today is probably the biggest day of my life.
Today is the day when it's decided whether I'm a run-of-the-mill soldier.
"HUT UP, BOZO, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS. TODAY IS ALL ABOUT ME!!!"
Yup, real mature, aren't I the best sister ever.
Out of nowhere, I heard an angry voice from a distance, it was my dad, who was pissed at all the ruckus we were making.
"STOP IT, BOTH OF YOU"
The house immediately fell silent once more.
Out of sheer boredom, I looked at the clock on top of my desk, and it read 8:55 AM.
I still had some time before going to the trials and decided to get changed into something comfy.
I quickly stood up from the bed, opened up the closet, and changed into something more presentable than my pj's.
Once I put on some soggy cargo pants and a black shirt, I was finally changed.
Whyle I was putting my shoes on, from the corner of my eye I saw smoke rising up in the distance. I approached the window and saw a massive pillar of smoke coming out from a distance.
"What the hell is happening?"
I exclaimed out loud in confusion.
These types of things don't happen often thanks to the vigilant watch of the paladins and regular army on patrol, their notmaly able to get to the problem before it gets to this point.
"Isn't that close to where Akin lives?"
That realisation hit me like a cold bucket of water, fully waking me up.
Just to make sure my worries weren't in vain.
So I took the telescope in my room that I normally use to gaze at the stars every once in a whyle.
I used my telescope to gaze in the direction of the rising smoke, and to my fear, my suspicions became true.
From a distance I could see Akin's house being burned down, but something was odd.
The roof was completely torn apart, not like it collapsed under the burning fire, but more like something blew it off.
But there was no time to think of this.
Once I confirmed my fears, I ran outside my bedroom. Once I reached the entrance, my dad called for me from the kitchen.
"Bella, where are you going?
Breakfast is almost ready."
"Dad, Akins' house is burning down; I have to go check"
"Oh, that's horrible. Be careful, and leave the dangerous stuff for the paladins."
I quickly got outside and ran towards the pillar of smoke in the distance.
Whyle running through the almost empty streets, the little people who were roaming the streets were all staring at the smoke in the distance, and murmurs began.
An elderly lady began whispering to one of her friends.
"What's happening? Could it be a group of rogues attacking? Those have been happening a lot lately?"
Her voice sounded concerned.
Her friend quickly followed with a response sounding equally concerned.
"Maybe it's another case of spontaneous psychosis; a bunch of cases like that have been all over the paper"
After 5 minutes, I arrived just to see a completely burned-down house and a group of people surrounding the house.
My heart skipped a beat.
The house was completely gone and turned into rubble.
I approached one of the people surrounding the house to ask what happened.
"Ma'am, do you know what happened here?"
I said with a shaky voice, unable to hide my nervousness
An old lady turned around and looked at me.
"Nobody is sure; all everyone heard was a big boom, and the next thing we knew, the house was burning down. That's truly a pity.
"I heard the family there had a paladin candidate, and the mom was truly a wonderful person."
From the crowd, I heard multiple murmurs
"I heard it was a rogue who did this."
"These attacks have been happening a lot lately."
"No, I heard it was spontaneous psychosis."
"Why weren't the paladins here earlier
"Are we truly safe?"
These murmurs sent a shiver through my spine, it was truly a scary thought, knowing I could be next.
"Ma'am, what happened to the people inside the house? A friend of mine lives there?"
"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry to tell you, but the paladin there told us there were sadly no survivors, I'm sorry for your loss"
I froze in place. I could not believe what I was hearing, and the only thing that I could think about was Akin not being alive anymore.
I stood there for a couple of seconds and decided to verify it myself.
As I made my way through the crowd and got closer to the house, I found 2 paladins pouring water from their fingers into small flames that were still there.
With a shaky voice, I called out to one of the paladins putting out the flames
"S-sir, were there truly no survivors?"
I still clung to a string of hope, maybe just maybe.
"You're one of the paladin candidates, right?"
Even tough i tried my hardest to sound composed, I couldn't contain all of the emotions inside of me, making my voice clear, low, and shaky whenever I spoke.
"Y-yes sir"
"Then you must know Akin Alpin, am I correct?"
I quickly nodded my head.
"Then let me tell you a secret the one who did this is Akin Alpin, who is currently still on the run."
My blood ran cold, and for a second, the world froze in place.
This could not be, I could not believe this even for a second.
With the shock of the revelation, my voice came out loud and angry at the mere thought that Akin would do this.
"Sir, you must be wrong theres no way Akin would do such a thing!."
"I'm sorry to tell you, but that is what I was told by eyewitnesses."
"Who? Let me speak to them. They must have gotten something wrong or, or"
I was desperate for answers, I wouldn't believe this, I cant.
"Calm down, Bella the witnesses are being interviewed as we speak"
I just stood there, not knowing what to do.
"The theory at the moment is he went crazy out of nowhere, it's been happening to a lot of people across all the districts. Maybe there's a way to rehabilitate him, so if you see Akin Alpin, you must turn him in"
All I could do at the moment was nod.
I walked away as I reviewed the events in my mind until something dawned on me, how did he know my name?
How did he even know I was a candidate for paladin if the list wasn't even public yet?
I quickly turned around and ran towards the direction of the paladin I talked to before, but…
He was gone, nowhere to be seen.
It hadn't even been a full minute, and he's not even here.
I quickly ran towards the other paladin, putting out the fire.
"Sir, where's the paladin who was here before"
The paladin quickly turned to me with a stern face
"You shouldn't be here, girl, don't you see I'm doing my job, go with the rest of the crowd now before you get hurt."
"S-sir, but"
As soon as he saw I had no intention of leaving i turned around and screamed
"Security!"
From behind me, a group of regular militaries were dragging me towards the crowd.
"SIR, LET ME SPEAK, PLEASE."
I said desperately; I needed answers, and I needed them now.
When I was pushed back into the crowded i was told by the military to go away, and with no other choice, I left.
As I walked home, I reevaluated my goals.
I could not believe Akin did this. I've heard stories of people spontaneously going crazy and killing their family, but I never thought they'd be true.
"Even with the small chance that he did go insane, I have to help him.
Akin probably needs proper help, and I'm sure he will get caught by the church, so the only thing I can do to help him is join the church and advocate for his rehabilitation.
For his sake, I promise I'll become a paladin and help him through this.
Once I got home, I told Dad what happened.
For the rest of breakfast, the dining room was silent, not even my noisy brother let out a peep.
At 10:30, we started getting ready to leave.
At 10:40, we reached the checkpoint to enter the governmental zone where church workers lived with their families, but it's better known as the rich zone because everyone who lives here is loaded, and if I became a paladin, my family and I would also live here.
At 11:20, we were on our way to the coliseum, where the church gains a huge profit by monetising the Paladin trials.
Honestly, if you really think about it, it's a millionaire idea. I mean, not only is it free promotion for the chosen Paladins to make them known, but they also get a bag out of it.
As I kept tinking bout miscellaneous stuff from the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face, but I couldn't quite pinpoint who it was.
I turned my head to the left just to see Akin running in an alleyway.
I stood there for a second; it was only when I remembered he was on the run that I started to chase him.
I made my way into the alleyway Akin was in.
"Akin, stop right there your not well. Let me help you."
He didn't respond.
I kept screaming for him as we took multiple turns through the alleyway.
"Akin, I can help, just please stop, and we can talk about this"
But Akin did not even budge.
As Akin took a turn, I made sure to follow, but he wasn't there anymore he was completely gone. I stepped out of the alleyway and found myself at the northern border.
How did I get here?
I didn't even run for that long, and I traveled to a completely different colony, and we didn't even pass a checkpoint, and on top of that, at most I ran only for a couple minutes, not even close to how long it would normally take to run this long of a distance.
What the hell is happening?
Wait, now that I think about it, the alleyway made no sense.
If my memory serves right, we should have walked in circles multiple times and yet…
From behind me, a group of soldiers came that I hadn't noticed before.
"Where did he go?"
"Hey, you girl, you saw him, right, Where is he?"
"I-I don't know, sir, I lost his trail here."
"SHIT! Not again."
"You're Bella, right?"
I recognised this man's face, he is the person who selects the candidates, Howard Mikels.
"Yes, sir"
Howard Mikels approached me and told me
"It's almost time for the trials, let's get you there immediately."
I looked at my phone, and it was already 11:45.
BUT HOW!
I don't even have the stamina to run for 20 minutes what the hell is happening?
"Bella, forget everything that just happened."
"Sir, I could swear I only chased him for a couple of minutes."
"I said forget it."
The next thing I new I was on one of the church's motor vehicles, with as amazed I had never ridden in one, after all, these things are reserved for the church and its workers. After 10 minutes, I arrived at the coliseum at the nick of time.